May, Part One--Utah!!

My blog is back from the dead. I'm going to catch things up in the next couple of weeks.

I love May in Montana. The weather begins to warm enough to venture outside again. 

We had the grand kids for a few days, and headed to the playground to wear them out. I think they got confused and wore us out instead.

These little buggers have way too much energy.

We decided to move on and let these two wear us out for awhile. I love that they play together, Krew with his fighting men, Myla with her princesses.

Almost no one knew it yet, but Jessica was in the early part of pregnancy. You know-that part where you want to sleep, eat, and throw up. Jessica has been pleasantly unsick with this pregnancy compared to her others, which off course, makes one sick with worry that something is wrong. 

Krew's last day of first grade happened during our visit. He wasn't very excited. 

It was super easy to get a "last day of school" picture of this calm, unhyped-up kid.

He does a mean happy dance.

It's ok to be sad, Krew. Second grade will be here

 before you have a chance to take a summer breath. 

It breaks my heart to see him so unhappy.

We'd actually came to Utah to attend the wedding of my niece

in the Salt Lake temple.

Jorden and Krew were on a long-ago planned opening-day-of-fishing trip in Island Park. Can you believe they went fishing when they could have sat around admiring flowers, discussing bridesmaid dresses, and hanging with in-law relatives?

Poor Krew, having to fish with Dad, Uncles, and Grandpa B. He's probably cold and wet. He's obviously miserable pulling that fish out of the water.

Seriously, does this look like a little fella's dream come true? I think not! They're probably gagging on the fish smell and straining those muscles to hold up that puny fish.

The REAL fun is in Utah, playing hand shuffle with Grandpa J. and Uncle Cliff,

greeting the newlyweds,

cutting the rug with mom,

and Grandpa.

No smelly fish in sight!

While I was in town, I rebound Krew's baby blanket. It's getting pretty worn. Good thing I still had some matching fabric. Also a good thing he turns eight next year and gets a new quilt!

 I love that Krew has used it to near oblivion. 

After Myla showed me how to take a selfie it was time for us to move on.

Stan and I hopped back into the car and enjoyed a long drive and some incredible scenery as we headed to our next stop.

Up next: au revoir to Oregon

April 2016

April was a pleasantly busy month around here.

We had a few overnighters. I just love when I think the girls are sleeping soundly. At least I know why they were so grumpy this day...

Since we were in Boise on Easter weekend,

I didn't get to see these two in their Easter finery.

Hailey picked out both dresses when she and I were at Costco without Makayla one day.

Aren't these two cute?

I have had this experience before: I'm with Shelly, in her car, when we hear an odd thumpity-thump- thump. It happened again! Seriously, I haven't indulged in ANY ice cream lately. 

The two of us are in cold and rainy Utah together for Women's Conference.

Of course, Jessica joined us, even though she was struggling with a stomach flu.

The three of us may have eaten too much, partied too long, and slept too little.

Myla joined us the first day when her pre-arranged babysitter backed out at the last minute. Since children are verboten at the conference, she and I spent some time at the Bean Museum while Shelly and Jessica went to a class. Here she is helping the magnetic ants wander the ant farm

and trying out the slide. This girl talks. And talks. And talks. She's pretty fun to listen to.

We hit the Cougar Eat for lunch. Myla showed us the correct way to eat a chocolate bar:

Keep your hands clean

cause your face is going to get dirty.

We joined the ward pinewood derby party. That guy on the right that looks a lot like Jorden, is the bishop. Oh wait, that IS Bishop Jorden.

That blue car is Krew's. 

Not only did the car take first place, it also set a course speed record for the day.

Krew was awarded a chocolate bar cleverly disguised as a million dollars. 

Excuse the over-exposed picture, but I've been so impressed by Myla, who cleans up the toy loft without even being asked. I need a Myla in my life.

We made sure to take Shelly to all of our fave eating places.

Ok. Let's be honest. I HAVE been eating ice cream lately. Sorry about the flat tire, Shelly.

Our visit was short, the conference was wonderful, the company was better. 

Even so, Shelly and I eventually had to head to our respective homes so that the Backman family could catch up on their sleep.

See you in May, Backmans!

October

October started with a quick business trip to Utah. I gleefully tagged along for a grandchild fix

We'd hardly gotten through the door before a very excited Krew told us about the first hunting trip he was taking with his Dad, Grandpa B, and a couple of uncles. He is going to sleep in a camper! He is going to wear camouflage! He is going to shoot a deer! With a BB gun! He is going to hang out with his Dad!  Sadly, deer were like, nah, not this time, but a few hunting outings later, Krew was there when his Uncle shot an elk.

Stan devoted most of one day to an outing at Thanksgiving Point with us, where the Corn Belly was the place to be. It's like a giant playground that costs almost nothing.

 Krew, giving Myla a ride in his John Deere.

I'm pretty sure this was Krew's favorite event of the day: the Cannon shot.

Krew managed to grab several pieces of candy and a dollar bill, rolled up and secured with an elastic. Myla was pretty happy with her candy haul.

 Umm...kids? That's not exactly the approved way to enter the school bus.

We tried out the slides. You can see Myla and me mid-way, Myla frantically trying to slow us down by holding on to the side, me trying to not break off her arm while pushing us along on the other side.

 Wow! That slide is hard on pants!

Myla was not a fan of the slide. She couldn't wait to jump out of my arms and go find something FUN to do.

Krew was sure he wanted to try this.

 After around 19 hours and anxious Grandma and helpful Mom trying to peek through the slats and give directions, Krew emerged. Krew  got a little lost inside. I guess he's not a rat.

 We watched the pig races. There's Jessica in the black shirt.

These flushed checks remind me that this day was incredibly hot,

 so after some food and drink,

and a refreshing Grandpa tickle, we talked Jessica into leaving for an appointment so the REAL fun could begin.

Krew went to the wild man slide,

 Myla took a pony ride,

and both kids bounced until we were all sure Mom was out of sight.

 After a little scheming planning,

Stan and I went into full spoil-the-grandkids mode.

We fortified ourselves with this nutritious cooling food.

We stood in a ridiculously long line so that this person

could paint all over Krew with his favorite sports loco. Myla was going to be a kitty, but she chickened out at the last minute.

Next, Krew found this nifty little place to get some rocks. For a few bucks you could fill a bag Grandma bought for you.

Stan and I were just getting started, but I'm afraid these two aren't used to all this spoiling. We will work on it some more another time.

So, let's see: 

1) Buy the grandkids sugary junk food. Check!

2) Encourage grandkids to color on self. Check!

3) Suggest to grandkids paying money for rocks makes sense. Check!

I think we're done here. Just remember kids, what happens with Gpa and Gma stays with Gpa and Gma!

We made it over to Krew's school so that he could show us his playground, clearly the most important part of his education. 

Jessica, Myla, and I had our own party at the mall and several restaurants while Jorden and Krew were hunting and Stan was visiting clients. Thankfully, Billings doesn't have any good restaurants or I'd weigh 800 lbs.

That shopping and eating stuff sure wears a girl out.

Excuse the bleary picture, but I always love seeing how much the Backman kids adore their Dad. 

After Myla read Grandpa one last book,

it was time to leave beautiful Utah and head for home.

We got home just in time for me to bake 53 dozen different kinds of brownies and make homemade root beer for the bishop's fireside.

Usually there are around 35+ kids at these firesides. This time we had only 12. I don't even want to tell you how many brownies were left over. Do you think I can scrape off the ghost sprinkles and recycle them? 

Also this month, Grandpa's assisted living place had a pumpkin decorating party.

This picture was taken by Lasting Legacy.

Laighton took this pictures of  Grandpa Jones, Amy and her girls, and his cute boys, as well as the next picture.

These are a few of Grandpa's 60-ish great grandkids. 

The most EXCITING news of the month is that we have finished our little house!

It's only taken us 18 months. Can you say it with me? I don't believe it. YAY! Here's what the house looked like 18 months ago.

Here's what it looks like today: a new color, new roof, the front fence gone, a new front door. (YAY!)

This lovely open-air, vintage mailbox still needs replacing. The postman who delivers this street has asked us to give it to him when we replace it. I wonder if he knows something we don't know. I thought it was rusted, but maybe it's tarnished silver?

These bushes once completely covered the sidewalk, and I cut them back so we could reach the front door.

Even trimmed, we were not thrilled with the bushes, so we pulled them out and Stan borrowed a cement mixer.

Stan filled the spot in with cement, which is still drying. (YAY!) Although it's hard to judge from this picture, the original sidewalk is only about 14" wide, really substandard.

Yikes! Someone wrote in the wet cement. The Smiths are really going to be annoyed when they buy this house 30 years from now.

Here's the original kitchen, with those stunning avocado counters, who-wouldn't-love-it gold flooring, cutting edge lights, and beat up cabinets.

Here's the new lighter, brighter kitchen. Stan installed the new cabinets and counters. (YAY!)

Looking from the kitchen into the dining area, with the pony wall and ginormous chandelier. 

The new view. (YAY!)

The old living room.

The new living room. (YAY!)

No more ugly wood-burning stove. (YAY!)

Old view into the dining room from the living room.

New view into the dining room from the living room. (YAY!)

The old backyard with dozens of random fences for, hmm..... unicorns? A herd of doo doo birds?

The new backyard, sans random fences (and sans nice spring green leaves and grass. Don't worry, they'll come back). (YAY!)

The old paneled bedroom, complete with 70's curtains.

The new painted panel bedroom, with wooden blinds. (YAY!)

The decorating don't old bathroom, with single sink, paneling, weird light fixtures, and gold patterned mirror.

The decorating do bathroom with two sinks, new lights, and plain mirror. (YAY!)

The old tub glass door, more gorgeous gold floor, and 70's tub tile.

New tub tile, no glass door, new neutral floor. (YAY!)

Another old bedroom: rust carpet, bright blue walls, dark doors. My favorite!

The new bedroom: wood floors and neutral walls and doors. My real favorite! (YAY!)

A furnished room with popcorn ceilings and floral valance.

The same room, unfurnished, un-popcorned, un-valanced. (YAY!)

We are still working to clean out the garage, but we've put it on the rental market. YAY us! Although it's taken a ton of time, we've enjoyed this project. We've done every bit of the painting, flooring, cabinets and counters ourselves, along with a couple of friends we hired. Stan's church calling and RA have slowed us down too much, but we bought the house for next to nothing and we're expecting a great return on our investment.

Best of all, it doesn't smell like smoke anymore (DOUBLE YAY!)

As if this month hasn't been thrilling enough, the Dark Angel and Snow Queen showed up at my house. I have a feeling these two won't have any problems getting people to hand them candy.

Here's the reverse side of my favorite trick-or-treaters.

And now for a really scary Halloween picture.

A Halloween blast from the past: 

Halloween Hayseeds 1977.

On to November! We got some (more) good times coming!